Pablo Bustillos sentenced to 40 years for fatal Longmont crash

BOULDER -- Pablo Bustillos received a 40-year sentence on Monday, the maximum possible, for fleeing police and causing a car crash that killed a 21-year-old Longmont man in March.

Boulder County District Court Judge Roxanne Bailin called the circumstances of the wreck "unusually aggravated." In an even tone, she laid out Bustillos' 19-year criminal history, along with the choices he had made March 6: to drive while high on methamphetamines, to speed off when police tried to get him to pull over, to continue speeding after officers broke off the chase, and to head for a well-trafficked Main Street on a night and time when many drivers would be present .

"This is as far from an accident as anything I've seen," Bailin said. "The setup was there for death. And that's what happened."

Bustillos
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Bustillos, 35, pleaded guilty in July to vehicular homicide, vehicular eluding causing death, and two counts of vehicular assault. Those charges carried a possible prison sentence between 24 and 40 years.

Longmont police said an officer tried to pull over Bustillos on suspicion of failing to stay in his lane on Collyer Street near 10th Avenue on March 6. Bustillos sped north to 19th Avenue, then went back through a nearby neighborhood before ending up westbound on 17th Avenue.

At 17th Avenue, with no one pursuing him, Bustillos ran a red light and hit a Grand Prix driven by Dale Johnson, 21, who was driving north on Main Street toward his home. Johnson died in the crash; two passengers in Bustillos' car were injured.